The AgustaWestland AW189, a 16- to 18-seat twin, is to receive its EASA certification by the end of the summer, according to a company spokesman. Six aircraft are flying, including four prototypes and two production copies.

Shenzhou-10 to return after fly-around, rendezvous test BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-10 with three astronauts onboard will return to the Earth around 8 a.m. Wednesday af...

Alberto Garcia Romera's insight:

Earlier this month:

At 13:18, June 13 (Beijing local time), Shenzhou 10 spaceship successfully realized automatic docking with Tiangong 1 target spacecraft, which has been the fifth successful rendezvous & docking with Shenzhou spaceships since it was launched into orbit in September, 2011.

Under the precise and accurate control of the operators, Shenzhou 10 spaceship experienced many times of orbital transfers. At 10:48, June 13, Shenzhou 10 spaceship entered the status of self-control and approached Tiangong I by way of auto-navigation control mode.

After its docking readiness was finally confirmed by Beijing Space Flight Control Centre, Shenzhou 10 spaceship started to slowly and smoothly approach toward the Tiangong 1. At 13:11, Shenzhou 10 spaceship and Tiangong 1 engaged with docking ring. After a series of procedures of capturing, buffering and correction, pulling back and locking, Shenzhou 10 spaceship and Tiangong I target spacecraft physically connected to form a combined unit.

In the course of automatic rendezvous & docking, the three astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping rotated shifts in the re-entry module. They closely monitored the parameters on the spaceship’s instrument panels and the docking process, carefully carried out various instruction operations, and reported about docking status rapidly and accurately through space and ground communication system.

At 16:17, the three astronauts entered into Tiangong 1 to carry out related space science experiments and tests.

The astronauts are scheduled to conduct a manual docking with the space module during their 15-day journey in space, as well as give a lecture to Earth-bound students.

China is the third country after the United States and Russia to acquire the technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking procedures, as well as supply manpower and material for an orbiting module via different docking methods.

The Tiangong-1 space lab has been in orbit for about 620 days. It will remain in service for another three months.

The module is considered the first step in building a permanent space station, which the country aims to do by 2020.

Rising Indian Ocean rivalries as China seeks to safeguard key energy lifelines loom behind an Australian push for a \$3 billion fleet of maritime superdrones, which will likely boost intelligence sharing with the United States.

The MilOWS warning system under the NH90 cockpit warns pilots of barely visible obstacles on the flight path.

Having completed its final qualification review, Eurocopter has certified the MilOWS (Military Obstacle Warning System) for the NH90 military transport helicopter. The system was developed and built by Cassidian and is from the Sferion SferiSense range. There are now no further obstacles to delivering the 150 warning systems for the NH90 to the Bundeswehr and the Finnish armed forces.

In completing its qualification flights on the NH90, MilOWS gave impressive proof of its credentials for use in a military setting. The Bundeswehr will now have the first military helicopters in the world to be fitted with a laser-based, real-time obstacle warning system. These helicopters will thus be able to carry out difficult missions in bad visibility more safely.

"The military version of the obstacle warning system is a development based on customer requirements that will make flying helicopters in military conditions safer. The civil system has been in use with great success for many years with the German Federal Police, for example," said Rolf Wirtz, Head of Mission Systems at Cassidian.

As with the civil version of the SferiSense helicopter laser radar system, MilOWS – the military version – is designed for use in helicopters. The laser-based, electro-optical system reliably detects obstacles in the flight path such as very thin cables, even when they are difficult for the pilot to see. MilOWS projects the image of the surrounding landscape onto the helmet visor. The qualification flights successfully conducted on the NH90 have confirmed in every way that the exacting requirements that have to be met to detect obstacles reliably and early have been fulfilled.

The system scans the area ahead of the helicopter using a laser beam that poses no danger to the human eye. It can detect even thin wires with a high level of precision at a distance of over one kilometre. MilOWS classifies potential obstacles in the categories wires, masts or individual standing objects as obstacle symbols that are superimposed onto a video or FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) video. The pilot sees this information on the visor of his helmet or on a multifunctional display in the cockpit. Alarms also sound when an obstacle or the ground is dangerously close. The crew is therefore able to identify and circumvent obstacles in time.

All Cassidian products for aircraft and helicopters that improve knowledge of the current flight situation, support flight-relevant decisions and thus significantly improve the safety and effectiveness of the mission (situational awareness) will in future be grouped under the "Sferion" umbrella brand.

At the Paris Air Show, Bell Helicopter uncovered a new light single, so far codenamed the “short light single,” or SLS, which will receive power from a Turbomeca engine. First flight is planned for next year.

Piaggio Aero claims its new drone will offer an unmatched combination of range, wide operative speeds, fast climb gradient, high operational ceiling and the capability to carry a variety of payloads, providing end users with a powerful yet flexible...

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia’s national transport safety investigator. Investigations seek to identify safety issues and encourage safety action to reduce the risk of future accidents and incidents.

Paris Air Show 2013: Airbus Military is ready to deliver the 100th example of its market-leading C295 medium transport/surveillance aircraft to the Royal Air Force of Oman and celebrated this milestone at the Paris Airshow today in the presence of...

Equipping the Typhoon with the MBDA Meteor missile came one step closer on Tuesday when the Eurofighter industrial consortium signed a contract with NETMA, the NATO Eurofighter management agency, to integrate the missile.

A400M engine-maker Europrop International has delivered 16 engines to the Airbus airlifter program and is on track to push that figure up to 40 by the end of the year as the turboprop consortium cranks up production.

The only glitch during the first flight involved pressurization, but it only happened because of a programming mistake. Cabin pressure started to go down because the computer was assuming the aircraft was landing after 45 minutes as initially programmed. “We then entered New York as a destination and the pressure came back up again,” Alonso said.

Alenia Aermacchi and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have successfully carried out the first phase of ground and flight testing of MC-27J multi-mission aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, US.Designed and certified by the US Air Force (USAF) and...

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